


He's A Ghost Story

by dracusfyre



Series: Grave Matters [2]
Category: Discworld - Terry Pratchett, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Drabble, Gallows Humor, Get it?, M/M, Sam Wilson is So Done, Talking To Dead People, ghost!tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:49:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22116640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dracusfyre/pseuds/dracusfyre
Summary: Former Grim Reaper Tony convinced Death to give him a chance to be with Bucky Barnes in the land of the living. Except, that's notquitewhat happened...
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Series: Grave Matters [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1489571
Comments: 26
Kudos: 190





	He's A Ghost Story

**Author's Note:**

> This little drabble was written in response to the "what happens next???!!!!?!?" comments I got at the end of Grave Matters. This will not make sense if you haven't read that one yet! I have taken this long to post this because I have NO IDEA what kind of plot this story should have. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ So if you have any ideas what you think should happen next, drop them in the comments and I will see if they catch fire!

There was a moment of silence while Tony and Bucky went blank with shock, then with his best ‘meet the press’ smile Tony stepped forward and offered his hand. “I’m Tony,” he said. He held his breath when Steve reached out to take his hand, and let it out slowly when Steve gripped it, shook it once, and took a step back.

“I’m Steve,” he said. “I didn’t know Bucky had company, but you’re welcome to stay for dinner. I’ll have Sam set out another plate on the table.”

“Sounds great, we’ll be right down,” Bucky said, pinning a smile on his face until Steve disappeared through the doorway. They stared at each other for a moment before Bucky said, “Are you alive?”

“I don’t know!” Tony said, throwing his hands into the air. “It’s not like this has ever happened to me before.”

Bucky grabbed one of Tony’s hands and put his fingers on Tony’s wrist. They both waited hopefully for Bucky to find a pulse, but after a moment Bucky shook his head. “Nope.”

“Damn. Well, let’s do dinner and see what happens,” Tony said. “If Steve can see me, maybe other people can too.” He followed Bucky down a wooden staircase into a homey kitchen, yellow with white cabinets and a granite countertop. A black man – Sam, Tony guessed – was putting a plate and utensils on a round table where what looked like grilled chicken and a variety of vegetables were already gently steaming.

“Hey, Bucky,” Sam said as he grabbed napkins for the table. “I got a plate for your friend. What does he want to drink?”

“Just water, please,” Tony said, and his stomach dropped when Sam just looked at Bucky expectantly.

“He said water,” Steve said over his shoulder, pulling out butter and one of those water pitchers with the filter built in from the refrigerator. “I got it.”

“Who said water?” Sam asked, confused.

“Bucky’s friend. Tony.”

“Who?”

Steve closed the door to the fridge and frowned when he saw Sam’s confusion. The frowned deepened when he saw the look of resignation on Tony’s face and guilt on Bucky’s. “What do you mean, who? The man standing right there,” he said, gesturing at Tony with the water pitcher. Sam’s eyes followed the gesture, lingered on the space where Tony was standing, and went back to Steve.

“Steve,” Sam said calmly. “Are you fucking with me right now?”

Tony and Bucky shared a glance. “Busted,” Tony sighed.

The awkward silence that fell after Bucky explained everything lasted for an excruciatingly long time. After the first few moments, when it became obvious that Steve and Sam were still too shocked to say anything, Bucky shrugged and served himself dinner. For a while the sounds of him eating were the only noise in the otherwise silent room and finally Sam said, “You are seriously telling me you see someone sitting in that chair right there,” pointing with his fork at Tony. “And he says his name is Tony.”

“Yeah,” Steve said, turning his gaze from Bucky to Tony. “I even shook his hand.”

“This is even more awkward than I thought it’d be,” Tony said, and Bucky snorted.

“Why did you laugh?” Sam said sharply, turning his fork on Bucky. “Did it say something?”

“He said that this was even more awkward than he thought it would be,” Steve answered. After another moment he started to fill up his plate with the rapidly cooling food.

“And now you’re just gonna eat like this isn’t an episode of the Twilight Zone.” Sam stared at Steve for a long moment and finally said, “Fuck it, fine, let’s just have dinner like everything’s normal.”

“What else are we going to do about it right now?” Bucky asked. “I already asked Tony if he was here because one of us was gonna die and he said that he’s not in that business anymore, so. We can figure out how to, well, figure this out after we eat.”

“That’s true, I’m glad your good buddy Tony is retired from the Death business,” Sam said sarcastically. He stabbed at his vegetables like they insulted his mom. “Is he eating? Or can I not see that either?”

“I doubt he can eat, since he’s been trying to pick up a fork ever since we sat down,” Bucky said, and Tony stopped fidgeting with the silverware and laced his fingers together.

“Does Sam live here? Because it’s going to get really annoying if we have to keep doing this one-sided conversation thing,” Tony said.

“No, Sam has his own place in DC,” Bucky said, getting seconds. “He’s just visiting for the weekend.”

“And I’m glad, too, I don’t want to live in this haunted-ass townhouse, I don’t care how good the location is,” Sam muttered, cutting into his chicken with unnecessary force.

“Where is here, anyway?” Tony got up to look out the window but all he saw was a row of townhouses marching away in either direction, with trees lining the sidewalk.

“Brooklyn,” Steve answered because Bucky had his mouth full.

“Oh.”

Bucky raised his head at the disappointment in Tony’s voice. “What’s wrong?” he asked after he swallowed. “Did you hope to be somewhere else?”

“I’ve really been wondering what’s happened to my house and my company while I’ve been, uh, dead,” Tony admitted. “Maybe we could look it up after dinner.”

“No reason we can’t look it up now,” Bucky said, pulling out his phone. “I think the internet is probably one of the best things to be invented over the past 70 years. What’s the name of your company?”

“Stark Industries,” Tony said, coming around to stand behind Bucky’s chair and lean over his shoulder. “Spelled like it sounds, S-T-A-R-K.”

“S-T-A-R-K,” Bucky repeated, and Sam’s head shot up from where he’d been focusing on his plate and trying to ignore the one-sided conversation happening around him.

“Stark? Are you trying to tell me that the ghost named Tony that’s haunting you is _Tony Stark?_ ”

Bucky glanced up at Tony and Tony nodded. “Apparently so, why?”

Sam looked between Steve and Bucky but they were both staring at him with equal looks of bafflement. “Are you serious right now? Please tell me this is some dumb prank you guys are pulling on me, some 1940s humor that I don’t get?” They both shook their head and Sam sighed, burying his head in his hands as if life had suddenly become Too Much for him to deal with. “Tony Stark was one of the richest men in America before he died in Afghanistan a few years ago,” Sam explained at the table. “It was a really big deal at the time. I was still deployed with the Air Force and we spent _months_ looking for him. His convoy was attacked, and he disappeared and was never seen or heard from again.”

“Oh,” Bucky said softly. “Shit. I didn’t know that. I’m sorry, Tony,” he said, putting his hand on top of Tony’s where it was resting on his shoulder. Tony turned his hand in Bucky’s grip and squeezed it.

Sam raised his head and his eyes zeroed in on Bucky’s hand. “Are you holding the ghost’s hand right now?” he said flatly. When Bucky nodded Sam stood up and said, “Nope, I’m out. I will see you in the morning, if I don’t decide to go back to DC in the middle of the night. I’ve seen this horror movie and it never ends well for the black guy.”

“He seems a little high strung,” Tony commented as they all listened to Sam stomp up the stairs.

“He’s had a wild few months,” Steve said, pushing his empty plate away. “You gotta admit, this seems a little outlandish.”

“It’s weird for me, too, you know.” Tony sat back down and rested his chin in his hands. “You know, being around real live people who can see me and feel me.”

“And why _can_ we see you?” Steve reached out and brushed careful fingers over Tony’s sleeve as if reassuring himself that the whole hand-shaking thing hadn’t been a figment of his imagination.

“I don’t know. I figure Bucky can because he spent so much time in cryofreeze. Like, maybe having one foot in the grave made him special.” This time, it was Steve and Bucky that gave each other significant looks. Tony looked back and forth between them, eyebrows drawing together in confusion. “What?”


End file.
